Business | Aviation

Emirates reaps rewards from Oceania routes

Alan Joyce, Chief Executive Officer of the Qantas Group and Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline pose during photocal during the press conference at Emirates Head quarters, Dubai.

Dubai: Embarking on a five-year partnership with Australia’s flag carrier, Qantas, Emirates is expecting strong growth in its revenue from the Oceania market, according to Emirates’ top executive.

At present, 29 per cent of the airline’s revenue comes from the Far East and Australasia region, as per Emirates’ last year financial report.

Asked if this partnership will boost the income from Oceania any further, Tim Clark, president, Emirates airline, said: “Yes we do expect to grow the income out of the Oceania route as a result of this partnership. Emirates had already been expanding its frequency capacity into Australia, New Zealand markets.”

Clark, who was speaking with reporters on Monday after he flew to Dubai from Sydney along with Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, and the Australian Minister of Transport, Anthony Albanese, added that Emirates already operates 84 frequencies on the route. “And with the Qantas [tieup] that makes it 14 flights a day,” Clark said. “So this is certainly a growth model for Emirates, and for Qantas. And when this beds down, the income coming out of not just Oceania for us, but from all the other points, will grow at quite a significant rate.”

The two carriers marked the official start of their partnership on Sunday, with the first Qantas flights departing from Sydney and Melbourne to London via Dubai. Combined, the two will offer 98 flights a week between Australia and Dubai. And for Emirates customers it opens up Qantas’ domestic network of more than 32 destinations.

Welcoming the move, Joyce said the partnership would make long-haul travel more seamless — and faster — for millions of Australians. “From today, our customers from Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney have one-stop access to 65 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, the UK and Europe via the joint Qantas and Emirates network,” he said.

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Qantas reportedly said on Monday that its Europe bookings jumped six-fold following an alliance with Emirates, which reduces flight times between the continents. “The travel time for our customers into continental Europe drops by more than two hours as a result of this alliance,” said Joyce. He added that Qantas plans to stick to its target of getting the international business on to profits by 2015.

Further, Emirates plans to extend the partnership to other areas of coordination, according to Clark. “It’s early days yet,” he said. “As we bed this partnership down, of course, there will be any number of possibilities where the two companies can come together. And I think as we move forward, we will be looking at some of those, like catering, possibly ground handling and so on. There are all sorts of possibilities.”

Qantas operates daily A380 services from Sydney and Melbourne to London (via Dubai) and Emirates 84 services per week between Australia and Dubai on a mix of A380s and B777 aircraft.